SWIM - Smart, Wise, Intelligent, Mature?

We all love to be, but seldom care about its content or context.  Take for example the oft repeated expression, 'Beauty & Brains'.  Its relevance caught our attention for the first time when an acclaimed danseuse, besotted by a Nobel laureate's brilliance, wondered: “Imagine, we both having a child with your brains and my beauty?”  The response was: "What if the reverse happens?"

Here are three such interesting anecdotes (Authors: unknown) to help you 'SWIM' better:

Once a horse and a donkey started arguing about the colour of grass.  The horse said it's green; the donkey said "no, it is red".  With no agreement in sight, they approached the lion, king of the forest.  He listened, and then sentenced the horse to imprisonment.  Shocked, the horse sought: "Why punish me, king when you know what I said was right?"  The lion replied: "You forgot, you were arguing with a donkey."  A great story to remember in these days of crass political squabbles!  George Bernard Shaw drove home this point, when he cautioned: "Never wrestle with a pig in the mud.  You both get dirty; the pig however enjoys your discomfort no end!”

Driving on the highway, a man was forced to stop his car because of a puncture.  While changing the tyre, the nuts he removed, rolled into a nearby drain.  As he struggled to retrieve them, a voice reached him from the lunatic asylum across the street:  "Hey buddy, take one nut each off the other wheels and fix the tyre".  Impressed, he queried: "But what are you doing in the asylum?" The guy said: "I’m only crazy yaar, not stupid like you!"

An elderly woman recuperating from a heart attack, asked God: “Is my time up?”  God replied: "No. You have another 30 years to go".  Assured of the long life ahead, she underwent a face-lift surgery.  On discharge from the hospital, while crossing the street, a speeding truck mowed her down.  Angry, she confronted God: “You said, I had 30 more years to live.  Why then didn’t you save me from the accident?”  With a blank look, God asked “Sorry, but who are you?”

That is how one sets out to be smart, wise, intelligent and mature!  Observe; Think; Be different.  As the 13^th century Persian poet, philosopher and mystic Rumi said:-

"Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world.
Today I am wise, so I am changing myself."